Zillow Review Guide

Who uses Zillow

Home buyers and sellers looking for a real estate agent, and the agents who keep profiles on Zillow.

Claim your profile

1. Reviews attach to an agent's Zillow profile, and only agents with a Zillow profile can be rated and reviewed.
2. Sign in to your Zillow account and select Request a review.
3. In the form that appears, either email several clients a link to your review request form (up to 50 email addresses per day) or copy a direct link to your review form and send it to a client.

Official guidelines: zillow.com

Replying to reviews

Zillow's agent guidance says agents can respond publicly to any review that has been published, and that agents receive an email as soon as a new review goes live. The pages reviewed do not spell out the exact menu path for posting a reply.

• Thank the reviewer and avoid being defensive, rude or petty; keep the reply specific to their experience.
• Zillow's sample replies invite the reviewer to call the agent if they would still like help.
• For a negative review, explain your position, but Zillow advises against trying to refute every point unless the reviewer has the wrong agent or makes a claim you can show is entirely untrue.
• For a mixed review, acknowledge both the positive and negative parts but draw more attention to the reviewer's positive comments.
• Reply to positive reviews too, to show gratitude and highlight specific areas of your expertise.
• If the review looks like mistaken identity, Zillow's sample reply says you have no record of working with the reviewer and invites them to contact you to resolve it.
• Reviews cannot be deleted one at a time. Replying is the option Zillow points agents to when they disagree with a review.

Official guidelines: zillow.com

Review rules

In our own words. The official page is the rule that applies.

• A review and rating can only come from a buyer or seller who has been in contact or worked with the agent. Agents cannot rate other agents.
• Reviewers must register and create a Zillow profile, and they indicate how the agent was involved (for example helped them buy or sell, or they shopped but did not buy).
• Zillow decides at its discretion whether a genuine relationship exists, based on the review itself or follow-up questions to the reviewer.
• A team of trained moderators evaluates every review before publication. Content must be respectful and appropriate, and content Zillow considers inappropriate, off-topic or not useful is not published.
• Zillow may hold back submissions that show suspicious activity or a possible conflict of interest.
• If suspicious patterns turn up in an agent's reviews, Zillow says it removes those reviews and formally warns the agent.
• Zillow's agent blog says lack of detail is by far the biggest reason reviews are rejected, and that there is no minimum word or character count.

Official guidelines: zillow.com

Reporting a review

Zillow's own process, step by step.

1. Reviews cannot be individually deleted by the agent.
2. If you believe a review breaks Zillow's review or other applicable policies, flag it for re-moderation by Zillow's moderators.
3. After a flag, Zillow's customer service team re-moderates the review and may contact you for more information.
4. An agent can opt out of being rated by deleting their Zillow profile, which removes all reviews and the agent's presence from Zillow.

Official guidelines: zillow.com

Tips

• Reply to every review, positive or negative, in a calm and professional tone.
• Keep replies specific to the reviewer's experience instead of using identical wording each time.
• Ask satisfied clients for reviews and ask them to explain what you did that helped, since detailed reviews are more likely to be accepted.
• Do not review yourself or ask others to post reviews that are not based on a real transaction.
• Flag a review only if it appears to violate the stated policies, not simply because it is critical.